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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25709590">Painting Class</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flufferdoodle/pseuds/Flufferdoodle'>Flufferdoodle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, M/M, Painting, Prompt Fic, self-care</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:33:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,545</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25709590</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flufferdoodle/pseuds/Flufferdoodle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Daisy wants Blue to do something just for the sake of enjoying it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ookido Green | Blue Oak &amp; Ookido Nanami | Daisy Oak, Ookido Green | Blue Oak/Red</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Painting Class</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue frowned at the portrait as Daisy flicked her hair over her shoulder, neatly painted nails resting gently against the table. She had broken their family’s habit of aimlessly tapping against tables, each one of them following the same pattern, shortly after she started her business. Blue knew she still did it, sometimes, when she was tired or tipsy or when stress built up just a bit too much for her to keep herself in check.</p><p>It bothered Blue a little bit that she worked so hard to abandon it. Tapping fingers was something so simple, so small, but it gave them a connection. Something shared within their family, hidden from the public eye. Something that was incredibly Oak that nobody else noticed. A secret hidden in plain sight.</p><p>She likely had her reasons to break it, Blue knew, but he wasn’t about to ask.</p><p>
  <em>“Hey Daisy, how come you stopped tapping your fingers like me and Gramps do?”</em>
</p><p>No. That was a weird question.</p><p>“You said a Smeargle painted this?” he asked instead, as that was actually relevant to whatever this conversation was supposed to be.</p><p>They had barely spoken in a couple years, now. Not because they didn’t want to, but because life just simply pulled them away. Things kept popping up now that they were both fully out on their own, completely moved out of the little house in Pallet Town. Blue had been surprised, almost forgetting he had an entire family, when Daisy texted him last weekend and asked if he was free.</p><p>“Yes. I thought it was rather nice. Just the family picture before, you know, everything happened.” Daisy smiled.</p><p>Blue hummed as he studied the image more. Daisy towered over him, her light brown hair frizzy and wavy, her arm slung around his scrawny shoulders. Blue was missing a front tooth and a canine, his hair matted down on one side and sticking straight up on the other. His mom stood next to him, almost identical to Daisy now, their broad noses matching that of their grandfather in the middle. The wiry, spiky hair seemed to skip his mom down to Blue, and Blue’s own thin stature was clearly from his dad.</p><p>“I’ve been actually considering painting more,” Daisy said after a moment. “It’s a relaxing pastime, and there’s a lot of Pokémon I work with who would benefit with more kinds of artistic enrichment.”</p><p>“That’s nice,” Blue said, setting the portrait down. “And Smeargle will teach you?”</p><p>Daisy laughed. “No, of course not. He moves far too fast. I actually signed up for some evening classes in Cerulean. I figure it’s important to take time for myself now, too.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Blue said.</p><p>“It took me a while to realize,” she said, slowing down her words ever so slightly, the way she always did when she was trying to make a point to Blue. Blue kind of hated it, kind of accepted it. “That nobody else was ever going to make me take care of myself. That I had to step it up and do the job myself, or I’d be falling apart before I knew it.”</p><p>Blue nodded, meeting her eyes with zero acknowledgement that he understood what she was hinting at. “That’s definitely important, Daze. Especially now that you’re partnering with Fuji on all this.”</p><p>“Yep,” she said, popping the ‘p’. “You’ve been pretty busy too, I’ve noticed. I thought the worst of it would be over when the gym renovations were completed, but now all I see is you on the news, at this tournament or that.”</p><p>“It’s been a big year,” Blue agreed. “Travelling’s been nice, though.”</p><p>“Your Pokémon seem to be in great shape,” Daisy said. “You look a bit overworked, though.”</p><p>No, he didn’t. He covered the dark rings under his eyes with concealer and took extra care in making sure he always presented himself with energy and cleanliness. He took caffeine shots in the morning so he could get away with drinking just one cup of coffee at work, keeping up his appearance of normal.</p><p>“I think you could use some time for yourself, too,” Daisy said.</p><p>“What, and take a painting class? I haven’t held a paintbrush since I was, I dunno, five? Unless you count repainting the gym, which I think is a bit different.”</p><p>“They’re fun, Blue. Sometimes you just need to do things for no other reason than you enjoy it. You don’t have to be good.”</p><p>Blue crossed his arms.</p><p>“Bring Red along.”</p><p>“Why? I don’t have the time, and I doubt he does either.”</p><p>“Make it. I’m serious, Blue, I don’t care if you take a painting class or go to a spa or just sit outside and do nothing for an hour every night. You need to take care of yourself.”</p><p>Blue sighed.</p><p>Daisy tapped her fingers, the familiar 3-2-3 beat drumming into Blue’s head.</p><p>And that was how, two weeks later, Blue found himself in a painting class, side by side with Red, mind flooded with all the other things he could be doing at that moment. Red seemed a bit tense next to him at being surrounded by strangers, most of whom had little to do with the world of Pokémon training, but he seemed more curious than anything. At least one of them would be getting something out of this.</p><p>They had on borrowed smocks, decorated with faded splotches of paint collected over years of use. Everyone was paired up at a table with a canvas standing before them, the instructor standing near the front of the room.</p><p>“Today we’re going to be trying a summer landscape,” the instructor said. She was a shorter woman, broad-shouldered with dark brown hair that faded to purple and the thickest pair of glasses Blue had ever seen. “My name is Martha. I’ve been leading these classes for about four years now, and each time you students never cease to amaze me with your creativity. Now, of course, what I do are just suggestions – feel free to try whatever you’d like! And if you make a stroke that’s just not working out, don’t worry. It’s acrylic. It dries fast and is easy to paint over.”</p><p>Red studied the brushes carefully as Blue checked his watch. He couldn’t recall exactly why he had chosen to do this and was starting to wonder if he could get a refund if he left now.</p><p>“I’d recommend starting with a light blue to define the sky and light green for the ground.” Martha picked up a large, flat brush, and dipped it in the cyan paint on her pallet. “Feel free to mix some white in to lighten up the colors more if you’d like.”</p><p>Paintbrushes softly dinged against pallets and cups of water as the rest of the room got to work. Blue uncertainly picked up a brush and dipped the tip into the cerulean blue before scraping it against the canvas. Red moved with more confidence, putting down thick strokes and mixing it with white.</p><p>Blue frowned at his canvas, dissatisfied, before gradually mixing more. He checked the time again, and Red grabbed his wrist, hand covering his watch.</p><p>“Stop,” Red said, voice barely above a whisper. “Just enjoy the class.”</p><p>“I just wanted to- Red, what the hell?” Red’s fingers had shifted against his wrist, easily undoing the watch clasp and slipping it into his pocket. “Red, I am enjoying it.”</p><p>He wasn’t.</p><p>Red turned back to his own canvas, and the two of them got to work on painting the ground. Martha started explaining the next steps, and Blue scowled as Red added the outline of an all-to-familiar mountain on his horizon.</p><p>So Blue got to work adding a lake, the layers of paint taking too long to dry for his taste. It turned more turquoise than blue, but that was fine. He added swirls in the sky, little dots of white clouds he tried to reflect in the lake. After a while, he could feel Red’s eyes on him once more, and when he looked over, the corners of Red’s lips were quirked upwards, his steely eyes soft.</p><p>“What?” Blue demanded.</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>With a start, Blue realized that Martha had finished her own painting and was gently encouraging everyone to wrap up.</p><p>Blue’s own painting looked a bit awkward, with mismatched strokes and blobby geometries. Red’s was about the same. But they didn’t look bad, exactly, and Blue was almost proud of trying.</p><p>They started to clean up their supplies, standing in line for the sink amidst the crowd of people, and Red dipped his finger in the remaining blue paint on his pallet before quickly turning to Blue and smearing it down his nose.</p><p>The paint felt cool and thick against his skin, and Blue scowled before grabbing his used paintbrush and swiping at Red, who easily dodged.</p><p>“Not in public,” Red warned.</p><p>"Hypocrite," Blue laughed.</p><p>But by the time they made it back to Blue’s apartment, paintings in tow, he was tired in a way he hadn’t felt in years, and he collapsed into bed, asleep, almost immediately.</p><p>When he woke up the next morning, Red’s arm flung lazily over Blue’s body, Blue could see the two paintings hung side-by-side over the dresser.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>written for the reguri discord's monthly theme, painting</p></blockquote></div></div>
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